Are the Miami Dolphins Thinking Quarterback in the NFL Draft?

The Miami Dolphins may be committed to Ryan Tannehill as the team’s starter in 2018, but that may not stop the team from drafting a quarterback this month.

The bigger question may be which one of the possible first-round picks will be available when the Miami Dolphins pick 11th in the first round? It’s a tough call because the first four teams that draft in the first round (Cleveland has two picks in the top four selections) are in need of a signal caller.

“I’ve been told by multiple people within the organization they hope they get the chance to draft a quarterback in the first round, but believe Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield will all be gone when Miami picks at No. 11 overall,” Armando Salguero wrote in Tuesday’s Miami Herald.

This may be one of those cases where the team throws up a Hail Mary and hopes to come out of it with a Dan Marino-type selection. Adding a bit of pressure to the team’s draft focus is the Buffalo Bills pick 12th and moved up to have a shot at one of the top six quarterback prospects.

The Miami Dolphins could take a look at Louisville’s Lamar Jackson or move down and draft Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph.

Recent mock drafts have quarterbacks all over the board. On cbssports.com, two experts, Chris Trapasso and Will Brinson have the Dolphins trading up to get a future signal caller. In Trapasso’s draft, he has Miami moving up to sixth in a trade with Indianapolis, where they will grab Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.

Brinson have them moving all the way up to fourth in a trade with Cleveland to take Mayfield. Per a story on upi.com, Rob Rang and Dane Brugler of NFLDraftScout.com both project in their mock drafts that Mayfield will be available when the Dolphins make their first pick.

Rang has Mayfield being selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the 15th overall pick, while Brugler projects Mayfield to be taken with the 12th pick by the Buffalo Bills. Both experts have the Jackson available when Miami makes its selection.

Per the story in the Miami Herald, the Dolphins expect Tannehill, a first-round draft pick in 2012, to be completely healed from an injury he suffered last offseason. The question is whether the management in Miami believes Tannehill can carry this offense toward the playoffs in 2018.